Speaker 1: And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon
Speaker 1: on The John Phillips Show, broadcasting live from Cairo in Seattle, Washington.
Speaker 1: Mister Randy Wiggs in Culver City, John.
Speaker 2: We have an update on the Sandy fire that is
Speaker 2: burning in Siam Valley. Is now up to about five
Speaker 2: hundred acres. There are mandatory evacuations. You can check that
Speaker 2: out at emergency dot Ventura County dot gov. We have
Speaker 2: seen some structures threatened. It's not looking great out there.
Speaker 1: No, it is not so if you're in Ventura County,
Speaker 1: stay safe because these fires can move at a very
Speaker 1: rapid pace. Eight hundred two two two five two two
Speaker 1: two is telephone number one. Eight hundred two two two
Speaker 1: five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome
Speaker 1: our next guest to the program. She is a professor
Speaker 1: of political science emeritus at California State University at Fullerton.
Speaker 1: Professor Barbara Stone.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Hi, John, welcome back.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so Earlier today I talked about a
Speaker 1: lot of the emails that I've been getting from people
Speaker 1: who are upset with me for saying that Republicans should
Speaker 1: play for both spots on the November ballot. That is
Speaker 1: the only path forward I see for a Republican governor
Speaker 1: in California, and given the turnout numbers that we have
Speaker 1: so far, and of course those can change. Democrats could
Speaker 1: strategically be holding on to their ballots until the very
Speaker 1: last minute, and those numbers could change wildly.
Speaker 2: We don't know.
Speaker 1: That's the future. If we could see the future, I
Speaker 1: don't think we'd be working right now. But the way
Speaker 1: I see it is that is the best if not
Speaker 1: only play at winning and trying to get behind one
Speaker 1: candidate to make it a Republican versus a Democratic race
Speaker 1: in November is a sure way to lose your thoughts.
Speaker 4: My first thought is I hope that your listeners understand
Speaker 4: that you are by far the most intelligent voice on
Speaker 4: this sub checked out there, and no one else seems
Speaker 4: to quite get it. And that doesn't mean they have
Speaker 4: to do what you're telling them, but they need to
Speaker 4: listen because it's the best information they're going to get.
Speaker 4: As far as what Republican voters should do.
Speaker 3: They actually.
Speaker 4: John Sometimes I think I'm about to say something truly
Speaker 4: profound that's just out of step with the way normal
Speaker 4: people think. In this particular case, what I'm going to
Speaker 4: say is your listeners have a choice. If they haven't
Speaker 4: voted yet, they can do what you repeated or Ingram
Speaker 4: is having urged, which is get together vote for Steve Hilton,
Speaker 4: and then we won't be embarrassed by not having a
Speaker 4: Republican in the runoff.
Speaker 3: John.
Speaker 4: That's fine if that's how you think. Unfortunately, at this moment,
Speaker 4: the California Republican Party is an embarrassment. And I can
Speaker 4: tell you how it got there over many years. But
Speaker 4: the bottom line is we're not going to win. I
Speaker 4: don't care who we run for governor. That person will
Speaker 4: get plus or minus forty percent, the Democrat will get
Speaker 4: the sixty percent, and that will be the end of it.
Speaker 4: But just look at what happened two years ago with
Speaker 4: the US Senate when Adam Schiff beat Steve Garvey. Steve
Speaker 4: Garvey absolutely stopped campaigning, but it didn't really matter. He
Speaker 4: got about what Republicans get. So if that to you
Speaker 4: is making us look good so we can cover up
Speaker 4: how bad we are, how weak we are in this state,
Speaker 4: then fine, you should vote that way. If, on the
Speaker 4: other hand, you want even some little chance of winning,
Speaker 4: it's small, but the chance of winning that by the
Speaker 4: way is causing mat hysteria among the Democrats.
Speaker 3: That's worth it for itself.
Speaker 4: Then what you do is you try to go to
Speaker 4: the Hilton Bianco bit. I don't know if it will work,
Speaker 4: but it would be a giant something if you could
Speaker 4: pull it off, and you would at least have some
Speaker 4: chance of winning. Now, if you've given up on winning,
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter, does it, Which is also part of
Speaker 4: what's wrong with the party in the state and what
Speaker 4: makes us a joke.
Speaker 3: So you could argue who cares?
Speaker 4: But I don't know. I like to have, when presented
Speaker 4: with an opportunity, at least take the chance. The only
Speaker 4: really funny thing I wonder how many people are registering
Speaker 4: what you're urging people to do. I am in a
Speaker 4: place where I interact with significant numbers of people who
Speaker 4: are educated and quite well to do. You can't believe
Speaker 4: the people I'm finding that don't even know we have
Speaker 4: a top two system. So it's hard to explain this
Speaker 4: to them in terms of the top two primary if
Speaker 4: they don't want, no, we have one, and I would say, well,
Speaker 4: you'd be shocked at the people who, oh, really did
Speaker 4: we do that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, honey, we did that.
Speaker 4: But it's hard to get people to focus on that
Speaker 4: when they don't.
Speaker 3: Know you haven't.
Speaker 2: It's so funny to me.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure there's something out there in the world
Speaker 1: of psychology that could explain this. But if you're part
Speaker 1: of a group that consistently loses, whether it's sports, whether
Speaker 1: it's in politics, whatever, you just kind of accept it,
Speaker 1: and you kind of sign on to this psychology of losing,
Speaker 1: and you in your mind, you know how you're going
Speaker 1: to lose, you know what the beats are, and you're
Speaker 1: just kind of ready for it. And it seems like
Speaker 1: with these emails that I get it is, well, what
Speaker 1: you're saying isn't going to work, so what's the point
Speaker 1: of even trying. And then number two is and the
Speaker 1: system is rigged against us anyway, so we're going to
Speaker 1: lose for that reason.
Speaker 2: And they just go on and on and on and
Speaker 2: on and on, and.
Speaker 1: They list me all of these reasons why the one
Speaker 1: opportunity they have to win isn't going to work, and
Speaker 1: I just can't wrap my head around that. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know, I don't have a background in
Speaker 1: that world, but it's a crazy way to look at things.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm no psychologists, but I do know you can
Speaker 4: get into a loser mentality. And I'm not even going
Speaker 4: to say these are bad people. We've lost so much.
Speaker 4: I can understand going, well, it's not worth the effort
Speaker 4: because I were, we're not going to win anyway. Of course,
Speaker 4: if that's how you feel, then why well, First of all,
Speaker 4: those people may not vote, that's number one. Secondarily, though
Speaker 4: they're clearly paying attention, or they wouldn't be listening to you.
Speaker 4: They're the kind of people who should take the jump,
Speaker 4: take the leap. Why not?
Speaker 3: What have you got to lose?
Speaker 4: And if nothing else you go, what could you accomplish?
Speaker 4: Or you would really upset the Democrats if that actually happened.
Speaker 4: In fact, the Democrats know they can't let it happen.
Speaker 4: Have you seen that rather awful ad where they've pieced
Speaker 4: together I don't know what they are making Chad by
Speaker 4: uncle look like he's pro immigrant or illegal immigrant?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I saw that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, if what I read is true, and then they
Speaker 4: pair it with Donald Trump endorsing Steve Hilton and say
Speaker 4: this is paid for by Steve Hilton for governor twenty
Speaker 4: twenty six, that's I read actually paid for by the
Speaker 4: Democratic Governors Association, and that what they did when they
Speaker 4: were oh their version of copywriting names for their pack
Speaker 4: that operates here. One of the names is Steve Hilton
Speaker 4: for Governor twenty twenty six, something like, sponsored by patriots
Speaker 4: who want to make sure no Republican gets elected governor.
Speaker 3: So that.
Speaker 4: Was National Democrat money to make sure that what your
Speaker 4: people won't vote for didn't happen.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Something's wrong with that picture.
Speaker 1: And that should tell you something. If the Democratic Party
Speaker 1: is spending money telling you not to do what I'm
Speaker 1: telling you to do or what I'm telling you to consider,
Speaker 1: you know that's the threat.
Speaker 3: Yep, they can figure it out.
Speaker 4: Oh, John, I can't be mad at people for not
Speaker 4: seeing things as clearly as some of us do. But seriously,
Speaker 4: you guys, if that's how you look at it, there's
Speaker 4: no risk here. Okay, it's not like your If you
Speaker 4: believe it's all fixed and we can't do this and
Speaker 4: we can't do that, then there's no risk. Go for
Speaker 4: the two Republicans and if you get it, what a
Speaker 4: wonderful time we'll have.
Speaker 1: Let's shift gears here for a second and talk about
Speaker 1: these turnout numbers so far among Democrats, and these numbers
Speaker 1: are nowhere near where the Democratic Party wants them to be.
Speaker 1: How much of that do you think is them hanging
Speaker 1: on to their ballots strategically to vote at the last
Speaker 1: minute because they don't know which Democrat will emerge as
Speaker 1: the front runner. And how much of it is them
Speaker 1: not knowing what the hell to do because no one
Speaker 1: is telling them what to do, Not Galvin Newsom, not
Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi, not Kamala Harris, none of them.
Speaker 3: Two things.
Speaker 4: One I think that you're point on that that you
Speaker 4: were making earlier is a really good one. And with
Speaker 4: their big leaders not telling them who to vote for,
Speaker 4: they may not even really realize there's an election. You know,
Speaker 4: there's no big stuff out there. No one's excited over
Speaker 4: these subernatorial candidates. There are no ballot propositions that are
Speaker 4: spending billions of dollars. They just may not really be focusing.
Speaker 4: What I think might also have an influence. I tried
Speaker 4: looking one of the sets of numbers I saw looking
Speaker 4: at the raw numbers, and actually from twenty twenty two,
Speaker 4: at that point, the raw number of Democrats wasn't that
Speaker 4: far off. If that's all you looked at. What was
Speaker 4: off was the relatively speaking significant increase in republic It
Speaker 4: can turn out now you could read that as more enthusiasm.
Speaker 4: It seems to me possible, although I don't know anyway.
Speaker 4: It seems to me possible that remember during Trump's first administration,
Speaker 4: he and all the other top people were going, the
Speaker 4: system's rigged, they're stealing ballots. Vote on election day, do
Speaker 4: not mail in ballots. Vote on election day. And I
Speaker 4: can tell you there's still a lot of Republicans who
Speaker 4: get very nervous at the idea of mailing in ballots.
Speaker 4: But it strikes me as possible that we've moved on
Speaker 4: enough from that that you're seeing Republicans who are perfectly
Speaker 4: happy to vote and who've gotten over that don't mail
Speaker 4: it in, In which case I'm not quite sure how
Speaker 4: to interpret this, except I'll take it, and your listeners
Speaker 4: should always remember when they talk about independence, we don't
Speaker 4: know squad about those people, except that there are very
Speaker 4: few true independents in this world. So they all tend
Speaker 4: to vote consistently one party or the other.
Speaker 3: We just don't know which these are.
Speaker 1: What do you make of the fact that Matt Mahon
Speaker 1: who is running as a relatively successful big city mayor
Speaker 1: in California against an awful field of Democratic candidates, that
Speaker 1: there is no appetite for him in the Democratic Party.
Speaker 4: I've tried to come up with any sort of positive
Speaker 4: explanation for that, and all I can say is that
Speaker 4: what drives the Democrat Party in this state is nationally
Speaker 4: are the way out progressives who are defining themselves as
Speaker 4: democratic socialists and they have no use for the man.
Speaker 3: Just leave it at that.
Speaker 1: Well, and it's not just him, because Antonio Viragosu was
Speaker 1: trying to brand himself the same way as a Democrat
Speaker 1: who is competent enough to deliver services to the people
Speaker 1: that Democrats care about and do it without busting the
Speaker 1: budget that in the old days was a new deal Democrat.
Speaker 4: Yep, no, no, But in today's Democrat Party, at least
Speaker 4: at the activist level, there's no place for him. We
Speaker 4: should scare everybody in this state which republic can stop
Speaker 4: sitting there twiddling your thumbs. Take this gamble and if
Speaker 4: it doesn't work, take the next one. For heaven's sakes, people,
Speaker 4: Oh well, what can we do? But yeah, no, I'm there,
Speaker 4: and I've heard where he's not exciting. Oh come on,
Speaker 4: hobby or but Sarah's exciting.
Speaker 3: Give me a break. Although have I told you? Have
Speaker 3: I told you?
Speaker 4: My one awful level, My favorite candidate is Katie Porter
Speaker 4: that she's actually pretty smart. She is incredibly condescending. She
Speaker 4: can't help her personality, and what she says about the
Speaker 4: others when they get on stage is worth the price
Speaker 4: of admission.
Speaker 1: Well, her problem is not that she's dumb. Her problem
Speaker 1: is that she has the personality of an hoa.
Speaker 3: Except a little louder. Yeah, no, I buy that.
Speaker 4: In fact, the only thing I wish I was seeing,
Speaker 4: because you realize she did twice called Chad Bionco cowboy.
Speaker 4: I think that's wonderful. He should have run an ad
Speaker 4: with vote for a cowboy Bianco.
Speaker 3: But what can we do here?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: La is having a mary oral race right now, and
Speaker 1: Spencer Pratt is coming on very strong. We're now the
Speaker 1: betting markets have him as a solid favorite as making
Speaker 1: the November runoff. Originally, Karen Bass wanted to run against
Speaker 1: Spencer and not Nythia Ramen. It was reported this weekend
Speaker 1: that her strategy has now changed, where now she doesn't
Speaker 1: want to run against Spencer Pratt in the November matchup,
Speaker 1: she would prefer to run against Nitthia Rahmen in part
Speaker 1: because of Nitthia Rahman's poor performance at the debate.
Speaker 4: You mean the fact she didn't know which way was.
Speaker 2: Up that one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've got the right woman. This ties into something
Speaker 4: I was saying a moment ago, John, about the low
Speaker 4: level of information of American voters in LA. Remember that
Speaker 4: Pratt should be just dead on arrivals because he is
Speaker 4: a Republican in a city where what do they even
Speaker 4: have a quarter of them registered Republicans. However, it's a
Speaker 4: non partisan race, and you go, oh, everyone knows he's
Speaker 4: a Republican, No, darling, everybody he does not know he's
Speaker 4: the Republican. So you're going on whether or not he
Speaker 4: can break through people's consciousness, and boy has he? You
Speaker 4: know whose consciousness? By the way, John, he's broken through
Speaker 4: on is the media. He puts on a show for them.
Speaker 4: He knows how to do that. That's more or less
Speaker 4: what he did. And they're slurping it up. And I'm
Speaker 4: not on social media, but my sister sends me the
Speaker 4: ads people are running on his behalf good happen in
Speaker 4: heaven here comes Batman to save the city of La.
Speaker 4: It's a tremendous show. People are paying attention. I don't
Speaker 4: think you have people who are just invested in and
Speaker 4: Karen Bass because.
Speaker 3: They like her.
Speaker 4: I think it's entirely possible under the circumstances that he
Speaker 4: can get in the runoff. By the way you do
Speaker 4: parallels or to the Dick Rardon times when you had
Speaker 4: serious problems. La has serious problems that all kinds of
Speaker 4: people recognize. And so while I'm certainly not saying he
Speaker 4: could win, I'm certainly not saying that anybody voting for
Speaker 4: Nicia Rahman is going to turn around and vote for
Speaker 4: Spencer Pratt. But you know, you never know what people do,
Speaker 4: and if you don't get in the runoffs, then it
Speaker 4: doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: Doesn't how hard of a job is the California Democratic
Speaker 1: Party going to have turning people out in November if
Speaker 1: they have Karen Bass on the ballot, who nobody gets
Speaker 1: worked up over, who likes her. If you have a
Speaker 1: Democratic nominee for governor that no one wanted in the
Speaker 1: first place, and you have three or four competitive congressional
Speaker 1: elections in the state, and everything else is a foregone conclusion,
Speaker 1: how do you get people excited.
Speaker 2: To vote.
Speaker 4: Democrat Party? Yeah, you have a real part problem. My
Speaker 4: best guess is what you do Now, I'm totally making
Speaker 4: this up. If you're a good consultant, you look, I
Speaker 4: can't get people excited over my candidates. And in fact,
Speaker 4: four years ago, like for Karen bath as I recalled,
Speaker 4: they brought Joe Biden out. I know, the lovely Kamala
Speaker 4: was here, but they brought every high ranking Democrat in
Speaker 4: the country out. Well, I don't think Joe could find
Speaker 4: his way here this year. And I'm not really sure
Speaker 4: anyone wants Kamala. Oh god, that moment. I'm sorry, that's
Speaker 4: not nice, that's petty. But so you're going to look.
Speaker 4: And if I were, which I definitely am not a
Speaker 4: consultant worrying about that, I would go, Okay, what's going
Speaker 4: to be on the ballot? There are going to be
Speaker 4: some things on the ballot that people are spending big
Speaker 4: money on, and some the Billionaire's tax by the way,
Speaker 4: being one of them. And somewhere I need to work
Speaker 4: myself in there so that when they spend lots of
Speaker 4: money to get people out, I can piggyback on it.
Speaker 4: And like the billionaires tax, that straight up union, and
Speaker 4: then you will have all the money spent on the
Speaker 4: other side. I would look at the what are going
Speaker 4: to seem like the big issues, because I don't think
Speaker 4: people are going to get excited over these candidates.
Speaker 1: Michael Right, Professor, barbar Stone, Professor of Political Science Emeritus
Speaker 1: at California State University at Fullerton. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: stopping by.
Speaker 3: Good to have you back.
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is
Speaker 1: a telephone number one eight hundred two two two five
Speaker 1: two two two. If you'd like to email the show,
Speaker 1: you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 2: And Randy.
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Speaker 4: Not so I.
Speaker 1: And you can also listen to us live on Election Night.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be here coming back from seven to nine
Speaker 1: pm on Tuesday, June second, so two weeks from tomorrow.
Speaker 1: It's already coming up. Everybody.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be broadcasting live giving our Election night results
Speaker 2: for all the important races facing California, and we're gonna
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Speaker 2: be live on five eighty the Big KMJ in Fresno.
Speaker 2: And right now it's.
Speaker 1: Time to open up the California Crime blodder.
Speaker 2: It's happened yet again, nye See. Time for the California
Speaker 2: crime blodder and Randy.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say this is a new age
Speaker 1: kind of crime because it involves crypto.
Speaker 2: A bunch of people from Tennessee thought it would be
Speaker 2: a good idea to come to California and strike it
Speaker 2: rich by kidnapping crypto bros. Go oh for more on this,
Speaker 2: We got a kpix in the Bay.
Speaker 5: Three men from Tennessee accused of traveling to the Bay
Speaker 5: Area to kidnap wealthy cryptocurrency holders. Katie Nielsen has the
Speaker 5: wild details on the home invasions and why crypto is
Speaker 5: such an attractive target.
Speaker 2: I mean because it's untraceable, because we pretty much invented
Speaker 2: a form of currency that is perfect for criminal activity.
Speaker 2: It's the new poker chips. You know, there are certain
Speaker 2: things that are a net positive or a net negative
Speaker 2: for society. How is crypto not a net negative?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. I can't tell you the number of
Speaker 1: times people have tried to explain how crypto works.
Speaker 6: To me.
Speaker 1: I still don't understand it, so I'm a hard pass.
Speaker 7: This is all very reminiscent of the home invasion robberies
Speaker 7: that were happening in La about ten years ago.
Speaker 2: We're also nine years ago, eight years ago, seven years ago,
Speaker 2: six years ago. Fore.
Speaker 1: I can keep going. And in the valley it's been
Speaker 1: going on even longer than that.
Speaker 7: We're thieves. We're targeting influencers and celebrities who were flaunting handbags, watches,
Speaker 7: and jewelry on social media.
Speaker 2: Don't be doing that. Don't be flashing your cash. The
Speaker 2: crooks are paying attention.
Speaker 7: The new flex those who are posting their crypto wallets.
Speaker 2: If you're posting your crypto statements to show how much
Speaker 2: money you made on doge coin, someone's looking to rob you.
Speaker 1: No more flashing cash and talking trash.
Speaker 7: Dozens of pages of federal documents paint the picture of
Speaker 7: the crypto crime spree at the end of last year,
Speaker 7: as three suspects, Elijah Armstrong, Nino Chindevon, and Jaden Rucker,
Speaker 7: all from the Nashville area, came to California.
Speaker 2: Wow, it's not even Memphis trash. We're getting Nashville trash
Speaker 2: out here.
Speaker 7: Came to California for one purpose, stealing crypto. The document
Speaker 7: show they started the home invasion spree in San Francisco
Speaker 7: on November twenty second, then went to San Jose, Sunny Vale,
Speaker 7: and Los Angeles, all in the period of about a month.
Speaker 1: Wells, they're hidding every part of the state that Southwest
Speaker 1: Airlines flies to.
Speaker 2: It's probably how they got there.
Speaker 7: Sources say. The victim of the first robbery is a
Speaker 7: well known tech startup investor, and according to documents, on
Speaker 7: November twenty second, one of the suspects posed as a
Speaker 7: UPS delivery person needing a signature for a package. To
Speaker 7: force his way into the house. The suspect bound the book.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I think we got to get rid
Speaker 2: of the signature thing, because people can pretend to be
Speaker 2: all kinds of different people, and I shouldn't have to
Speaker 2: sign something so you deliver my wine club shipment.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that the object that they're going
Speaker 1: after is new age and modern, but the method that
Speaker 1: they use to get it is very three stooges.
Speaker 7: The suspect bound the victim with duct tape and threaten
Speaker 7: to kill him while demanding access to the victim's cryptocurrency accounts,
Speaker 7: ultimately making off with more than six and a half
Speaker 7: million dollars.
Speaker 6: That's quite a heist that it is We've seen bad
Speaker 6: actors gravitate to where the money is, whether that's you know,
Speaker 6: narcotics or other types of areas. And today we're seeing
Speaker 6: more and more thefts involving cryptocurrency because now you can
Speaker 6: steal funds at the speed of the internet.
Speaker 2: Airy Redboard, We're not talking about stealing your cash or
Speaker 2: stealing your diamonds. Then they have to trade for cash.
Speaker 2: They can straight up log into your account, transfer all
Speaker 2: the crypto to them and you will never get it back.
Speaker 1: And this is where kidnappings are going now correct, where
Speaker 1: they're not asking for cash anymore, they're asking for crypto.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 7: Airy Redboard is a former federal prosecutor and now works
Speaker 7: with TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence company. He isn't directly
Speaker 7: involved in the Californian cases, but says these types of
Speaker 7: home invasion crypto are getting more common.
Speaker 6: You don't need to take someone at gunpoint to their
Speaker 6: ATM machine anymore. They hold their ATM machine in the
Speaker 6: palm of your hand.
Speaker 7: Documents show the crew went on to another home in
Speaker 7: San Jose on December sixth and tried to get in
Speaker 7: by posing as a door dash driver.
Speaker 2: Well, if you knew you didn't order any fries. That'd
Speaker 2: be your first tip. Hey, I'm here with the big Mac.
Speaker 2: I didn't order a big Mac. Well someone here did.
Speaker 2: I guess I'll just throw this big mac away. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: don't do that.
Speaker 7: I'll be right there, and tried to get in by
Speaker 7: posing as a door dash driver, but the intended target
Speaker 7: never came to the door. On December twenty second, the
Speaker 7: documents say they went to Sunnyvale, where they once again
Speaker 7: posed as food delivery drivers and attempted to get inside
Speaker 7: the victim's home, but the victim fought back.
Speaker 2: Now do you think they had a real bag of
Speaker 2: food or they didn't even have They just had an
Speaker 2: empty bag. So they were trying to really pull the
Speaker 2: wool over your eyes.
Speaker 1: Now, wait a minute, I don't smell any pizza. That
Speaker 1: looks like a front.
Speaker 7: But the victim fought back and the would be thieves
Speaker 7: ran off. The last target was in Los Angeles, according
Speaker 7: to the documents, on December thirty first, they posed as
Speaker 7: a US Postal employee with a package.
Speaker 2: Well, how many costumes do these guys have?
Speaker 1: It sounds like one of them might work at Central Casting.
Speaker 2: They were ups, then they were door dash now that
Speaker 2: the postman maybe one of them was dating a stripper.
Speaker 7: They posed as a US Postal employee with a package
Speaker 7: to get inside the home and demanded access to the
Speaker 7: victim's crypto accounts, but got spooked by a helicopter flying
Speaker 7: overhead and left.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's just LA. That's just the every single day
Speaker 2: occurrence of the police helicopters. But I guess if you're
Speaker 2: from tennis See, you're not used to that.
Speaker 1: They think the cops are onto them, and little do
Speaker 1: they know, it's just KTLA doing a traffic report, but got.
Speaker 7: Spooped by a helicopter flying overhead and left. The documents
Speaker 7: don't say if they were successful in stealing any cryptocurrency.
Speaker 7: One question the documents don't answer is how the suspected
Speaker 7: thieves new to target these specific individuals.
Speaker 6: Oftentimes cryptocurrency founders or investors are very public people, and
Speaker 6: I think part of what's been going on here is
Speaker 6: you've had criminals who are doing online research and targeting
Speaker 6: very specific people they know to have cryptocurrency holdings or
Speaker 6: believe to have cryptocurrency holdings.
Speaker 7: He said. Sometimes it's not even that complicated.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of crypto holders have high profiles social
Speaker 6: media profiles.
Speaker 2: If you're posting about how much money you're making with
Speaker 2: your crypto, somebody's paying attention to it, and not to
Speaker 2: give you props. Well, I don't understand the implt for
Speaker 2: people to brag about their wealth on social media. And
Speaker 2: you see this happening all the time. Where someone buys
Speaker 2: a new car, they got to brag about it. Someone
Speaker 2: has a new handbag, they have to brag about it.
Speaker 2: Someone has new jewelry, they have to brag about it.
Speaker 2: You do realize you're waving red in front of the ball. Well,
Speaker 2: what they're probably thinking, especially if you're a prominent crypto influencer,
Speaker 2: is that if you pull, if you promote how much
Speaker 2: money you made with a certain coin and a bunch
Speaker 2: of idiots decide to spend their life savings on it,
Speaker 2: you're going to make a whole bunch of money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you could also end up in the trunk of
Speaker 1: someone's car and on your way to reno.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of crypto holders have high profiles social
Speaker 6: media profiles, particularly on X and other platforms. Sometimes even
Speaker 6: people will go as far.
Speaker 2: I'm so cautious now I post my vacation photos three
Speaker 2: weeks later.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to ask you a question. I want
Speaker 1: an honest answer. If a crypto influencer ho does nothing
Speaker 1: but brag about their wealth and all of the expensive
Speaker 1: toys that they own gets thrown in the back of
Speaker 1: someone's trunk and kidnapped for days, do you have any
Speaker 1: sympathy for that person at all?
Speaker 2: Well, you don't want anybody to be threatened with their lives.
Speaker 2: That's not what I asked. Do you have any sympathy
Speaker 2: for that person at all? No comment.
Speaker 6: Particularly on x and other platforms. Sometimes even people will
Speaker 6: go as far as to sort of show their crypto
Speaker 6: wallets to compare and contrast them with others, which is
Speaker 6: essentially showing your bank account holdings, and bad actors are
Speaker 6: trolling these platforms looking for targets.
Speaker 7: All three suspects are facing a number of federal charges,
Speaker 7: including attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to commit robbery. If convicted,
Speaker 7: they face twenty years to life in prison.
Speaker 2: There you go, the crypto robbers that came here from
Speaker 2: Tennessee to steal the crypto holdings of dumb influencers who
Speaker 2: were dumb enough to post about it on social media.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you. Everyone out there.
Speaker 1: Should do everything they can to not make themselves a target.
Speaker 1: We live in California, where nobody goes to jail for anything.
Speaker 1: I don't wear any rings.
Speaker 2: I don't. I do wear a.
Speaker 1: Watch now, but that's just because I don't want to
Speaker 1: be late places. I don't wear fancy clothes. I wear
Speaker 1: size fourteen orthopedic shoes. I drive a forward, for Heaven's sake.
Speaker 1: I do everything I can to fly.
Speaker 2: Under the radar.
Speaker 1: Because I have a million and one problems and I
Speaker 1: don't need a gun stuck in my face to add
Speaker 1: to the list.
Speaker 2: Well, and criminals would probably see you and just take
Speaker 2: pity on you when they see your angels hat.
Speaker 1: They should eight hundred two two two five two two
Speaker 1: two East Telephone number one, eight hundred two two two
Speaker 1: five two two two. And right now it's time to
Speaker 1: open up the California crime bladders to catchh It his dummy.
Speaker 2: We shouldn't make this stuff up. If we tried, I said,
Speaker 2: hell no, I'm very point. Let me get up one
Speaker 2: out of here.
Speaker 1: It's the California Crime Blodder and this edition takes us well.
Speaker 1: Right next to my dentist office, we.
Speaker 2: Have yet another attempted burglary, this time in the mid
Speaker 2: Wiltshire area, but this time the burglars got scared up
Speaker 2: for more. Here is Fox in Los Angeles.
Speaker 8: Local homeowners scares off a group of burglars trying to
Speaker 8: break into his house in the mid Wiltshire area. Tonight,
Speaker 8: LAPD says the suspects are still on the run.
Speaker 2: Well, we knew that part.
Speaker 8: It's La Box Seven's Nick Garcia talking with that homeowner
Speaker 8: who says the thieves seem to have no fear.
Speaker 9: The Los Angeles Police Department's helicopter over mid Wiltshire just
Speaker 9: after midnight searching for at least three suspects, two of them.
Speaker 2: That's probably that helicopter that scared off the crypto kidnappers.
Speaker 2: It all ties together.
Speaker 9: Two of them seen here trying to break into a
Speaker 9: home on Mullen Avenue near Ninth Street.
Speaker 8: There's no evidence of any type of intrigue.
Speaker 10: We have the helicopter above also helping us check backyards,
Speaker 10: so there's no evidence of four centuries and they were
Speaker 10: pretty brazen they.
Speaker 2: By the way, this shows you the difference in resources.
Speaker 2: If a burglary happens in Midwaleshire, they send out the chopper.
Speaker 2: If they burglary happens in the valley, they send someone
Speaker 2: out about an hour later, fill out a form online.
Speaker 10: They were even when I yelled out, It seemed like
Speaker 10: they were just continuing what they were going to do,
Speaker 10: so we called nine one one.
Speaker 9: When he continued yelling, they took off. This is just
Speaker 9: the latest attempted breaking in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: You see a neighborhood right, didn't Karen Bess just say
Speaker 2: crime is at an all time low? Oh yeah, she's
Speaker 2: doing a bang up job.
Speaker 9: You see a neighborhood watch sign is posted not far
Speaker 9: from where those attempted burglaries happened. But look the Homeolder
Speaker 9: last night says it took nearly twenty minutes for LAPD
Speaker 9: to actually get here. Just an example.
Speaker 2: That is way faster than every other story we've heard
Speaker 2: from the valley, where it's like an hour at best,
Speaker 2: but not even close to Orange County.
Speaker 9: But look the Homeolder last night says it took nearly
Speaker 9: twenty minutes for LAPD to actually get here, Just an
Speaker 9: example of how understaffed they may be. In fact, neighbors
Speaker 9: in this residential area tell me, if they don't have
Speaker 9: private security, they don't feel safe.
Speaker 10: The mid Wiltshire area has just been hit so much
Speaker 10: by home home break ins, and it seems like they're
Speaker 10: getting more aggressive.
Speaker 2: He says his homey feel like if they pay for
Speaker 2: that guy in the CROWNVIC that's not a police officer
Speaker 2: to drive around the neighborhood, they feel safe. Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: guess what if there are a bunch of guys in
Speaker 2: ski masks, wearing all black clothing and having guns on them.
Speaker 2: That guy in the CROWNVIC isn't sticking around either.
Speaker 9: He says his home has been broken into three times
Speaker 9: in the last four years.
Speaker 2: Yep, crime is down, Karen Bass, good job, madam Mayor.
Speaker 2: How do you think this guy's voting? That's the problem though.
Speaker 2: People get robbed left and right.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the population of la that are that's
Speaker 1: the victim of these crimes, yet they still vote for
Speaker 1: the people who allow it to happen. No, I don't
Speaker 1: know enough to give you any good information, but good
Speaker 1: luck finding.
Speaker 9: Someone who does. He says his home has been broken
Speaker 9: into three times in the last four years.
Speaker 10: Doesn't seem like they're afraid at all. There's no fear
Speaker 10: for them, there's no consequences.
Speaker 9: Nick Garcia Fox eleven News.
Speaker 2: There you go, just the latest attempted break in in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But this time, Randy, at least you could hang your
Speaker 1: hat on this. It wasn't in the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 2: Yes, that was nice. It's getting really irritating. Every single
Speaker 2: day I pop open the youtubes and there's another valley
Speaker 2: one up. There's another valley, one up, there's another valley one.
Speaker 2: I would like to at this point find someone who
Speaker 2: is actually voting for Karen Bass in the election and
Speaker 2: just pick their brain and just find out out why
Speaker 2: what went wrong in your life that led you to
Speaker 2: the point to where you think it's acceptable to live
Speaker 2: this way. No, I could be like Jane Goodall and
Speaker 2: just standing there with a clipboard writing notes like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we have someone who's been robbed multiple times. They can't
Speaker 2: buy insurance anymore because they're once safe, neighborhood is now
Speaker 2: too dangerous. There are homeless encampments on their blog, and
Speaker 2: yet they seem okay with it. Hmm, let's study.
Speaker 4: Oh, you're so optimistic.
Speaker 1: There are people out there who are going to do that.
Speaker 1: She is gonna finish first. The only question is who
Speaker 1: will finish second, don't forget George Gascone when he finally
Speaker 1: lost the election, he finished first in the primary and
Speaker 1: then he lost by a lot. And she's gonna finish
Speaker 1: first in the primary. Let's just hope that she suffers
Speaker 1: the same fate as George Gascon. All Right, we've got
Speaker 1: one more hour coming up on The John Phillips Show,
Speaker 1: Don't You Go Anywhere.